Assessment of Socio Demographic Characteristics on Uptake of Tuberculosis Screening by Community Members in Meru County, Kenya

The trend in tuberculosis in Kenya is worrying. TB is the fourth leading cause of death. In 2015 81,518 cases of TB were identified and treated. The Kenya prevalence survey of 2015-2016 found that estimated prevalence is 558/100,000 way above the WHO estimate of 233/100,000. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of socio- demographics characteristics on tuberculosis screening among community members in Tigania East of Meru County. The study design used was cross-sectional survey and targeted 440 household drawn from the five wards randomly and proportionately selected. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect qualitative data. Qualitative data was analysed thematically. Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics using SPSS version 26. The study found out that there were statistically significant association between TB screening and religion (X2 =13.103, df 3; p value=0.004,), monthly income (X2 =14.970, df 6; p value=0.020. The study concluded that religion and monthly income of community members of Tigania East were associated with TB screening. Keywords; Socio demographic, Uptake of TB screening, Community members. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-22-05 Publication date: November 30th 202

Genome and phylogenetic analyses of Trypanosoma evansi reveal extensive similarity to T. brucei and multiple independent origins for dyskinetoplasty.

Two key biological features distinguish Trypanosoma evansi from the T. brucei group: independence from the tsetse fly as obligatory vector, and independence from the need for functional mitochondrial DNA (kinetoplast or kDNA). In an effort to better understand the molecular causes and consequences of these differences, we sequenced the genome of an akinetoplastic T. evansi strain from China and compared it to the T. b. brucei reference strain. The annotated T. evansi genome shows extensive similarity to the reference, with 94.9% of the predicted T. b. brucei coding sequences (CDS) having an ortholog in T. evansi, and 94.6% of the non-repetitive orthologs having a nucleotide identity of 95% or greater. Interestingly, several procyclin-associated genes (PAGs) were disrupted or not found in this T. evansi strain, suggesting a selective loss of function in the absence of the insect life-cycle stage. Surprisingly, orthologous sequences were found in T. evansi for all 978 nuclear CDS predicted to represent the mitochondrial proteome in T. brucei, although a small number of these may have lost functionality. Consistent with previous results, the F1FO-ATP synthase γ subunit was found to have an A281 deletion, which is involved in generation of a mitochondrial membrane potential in the absence of kDNA. Candidates for CDS that are absent from the reference genome were identified in supplementary de novo assemblies of T. evansi reads. Phylogenetic analyses show that the sequenced strain belongs to a dominant group of clonal T. evansi strains with worldwide distribution that also includes isolates classified as T. equiperdum. At least three other types of T. evansi or T. equiperdum have emerged independently. Overall, the elucidation of the T. evansi genome sequence reveals extensive similarity of T. brucei and supports the contention that T. evansi should be classified as a subspecies of T. brucei